RHS boys 11th, girls 15th at Hodag Scramble

The Rhinelander High School wrestling team welcomed 28 schools to the Hodag Dome on Thursday for the third annual Hodag Scramble. Rhinelander finished in the middle of the pack among those teams, taking 15th out of 26 in the boys’ division and 11th out of 15 in the girls’ division.

Mat time was the name of the game, especially for the Hodags’ younger wrestlers, in an event that featured a number of schools from the northern half of the state as well as a handful from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

“We were right about where I figured we’d be, just wins-wise. Team scores are team scores when you’re competing for the top,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. “It was good to see our guys get as many matches as we did. We saw mid-match improvements. We saw match-to-match improvements by our guys. We got some guys that got their first-ever win. It’s always fund to see, especially when there are five matches in the day and guys start to get tired, the character that they have. If they finish matches or just kind of just cash in the chips and I thought our guys fought hard until the end today.”

The Hodags had four wrestlers reach the podium in their home meet. On the boys’ side, Owen Kurtz was the runner-up at 215 pounds, Logan Schwinger took fourth at 175 and Aiden Ostermann finished sixth at 150. Mya Swanson finished third in the girls’ 126-132 bracket. 

Kurtz (17-1) suffered his first loss of the season at the hands of Michigan state champion Elizin Rouse of Kingsford. Trailing 2-1 heading into the third, Kurtz gave up an escape, was taken down and pinned.

“He’s competing hard and the Kingsford kid was a state champ last year. To be right there, 1-2 going into the final period, we’re right where we want to be,” Arneson said. 

Kurtz got to the finals with a couple of quick pins in the preliminary rounds and then a late third-period fall against Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Owen Schultz in the semifinals.

“This was a really good tournament for him. It was his first tournament down at 215, so we got to see what that was going to be like for a whole day’s worth and I think it’s really benefitting him,” Arneson said.

    Rhinelander’s Mya Swanson looks to gain control over Shawano’s Breliegh Thornock during the Hodag Scramble wrestling tournament in the Hodag Dome Thursday, Dec. 21. Swanson finished third in the 126-132 weight class as Rhinelander finished 11th in the girls’ division. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Swanson (9-5) went 3-2 on the day. She went 2-1 in pool play with a pair of pins. She lost to eventual champion Caitlyn Moede of Shawano to end pool play. After falling to Wautoma’s Brianna Buechner in the semifinals, Swanson stopped Shawano’s Breliegh Thornock for the second week in a row to finish third.

“Overall, taking third was a good end to the day. We’ll learn from the losses here,” Hodag girls’ coach Eric Gobin said. “We have a lot of things we can try to tighten up here. I think we’ve got a good base and a foundation. We’ve just go to fine tune some things.”

Schwinger (11-7) won his first two matches by pin to reach the semifinals. He got the first takedown against eventual champion Bryson Schmidt of Wittenberg-Birnamwood, but couldn’t keep up in an 11-4 decision. He was then pinned by Gladstone, Michigan’s Trevor Thorbahn in the third-place match.

“Logan was wrestling really well. In his bracket alone he had a guy that was 10-2 and he just really wrestled well, stayed basic and had fundamentals that really paid off,” Arneson said. “He knows how to wrestle. It’s putting himself in position where he can actually score points now. It’s not a lack of mat time any more. It’s just staying focused when we’re on the mat and capitalizing when other people make mistakes.”

Ostermann got a pin against Marathon’s Derek Vesely with four seconds left in regulation to secure a spot on the podium. He finished 2-2 on the day.

“Aiden’s a hammer on top. If anybody was smart, they wouldn’t choose down. He turns almost everybody and not many people get away. He gritted out a couple matches … That’s going to pay off in the long run here,” Arneson said.

The Hodags were down a couple of usual starters, with Reid Schultz and Dresden Klaver scratched from the lineup, but still had 12 wrestlers compete on the boys’ side. Gavin Liebherr was 13th at 106, Hoyt Dantoin took 12th at 113, Anthony Boldt was 17th at 126, Avrom Barr took 14th at 132, Augustus Porter was 21st at 144, Maxi Singhammer took 17th at 175, Gavin Snider-Dotter was 11th at 190, Shayden Hylleberg was 17th at 215 and Dominic Hakala took 18th at 285. 

“Lot of good fight. We had some freshmen that got a couple wins today,” Arneson said. “Not only did Gavin Liebherr get his first varsity win, but Shayden got his first win today. He ground out a match and got six takedowns. That’s huge for a freshman, just to feel what it feels like to be at that varsity level and score takedowns.”

The Hodags utilized nine mats that were spread from goal line to goal line on the turf field inside the Hodag Dome. Organizers estimated that roughly 1,000 bouts took place over the roughly seven-hour meet. Arneson thanked his assistant coaches, RHS activities director Brian Paulson and all the volunteers who helped make the meet successful.

“Countless hours go into putting on a nine-mat tournament and it really paid off today,” he said.

Rhinelander is back on the mat this Thursday and Friday at the Northern Badger Invitational in River Falls.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].